56 POULTRY FOODS 



digestive tract. The charcoal, which should be broken 

 into small pieces, should be supplied with the oyster 

 shells and grit. 



Salt. The use of salt in poultry food is not a 

 necessity; but when a forcing ration is fed to fowls 

 either to produce broilers, to fatten fowls, or to produce 

 eggs, some salt may be used to assist digestion; 8 oz. 

 of salt to 100 Ib. of meal is enough to use; much more 

 than this will injure the digestion of grown fowls, 

 and it is positively unsafe to feed more to young chicks. 



POISONOUS FOODS 



Fowls sometimes die from ptomaine poisoning. For 

 this reason putrid meat, spoiled grain, and other fer- 

 mented or spoiled foods should not be fed. Foods that 

 are otherwise wholesome may be made unwholesome if 

 exposed to dampness, due to the development of molds. 



Excessive quantities of salt, salt meat, or the brine 

 from which the meat has been removed, salt fish, salt 

 from ice-cream freezers, and in fact, salt of any kind 

 consumed in large quantities is very destructive to 

 poultry. 



Solutions of sulphate of iron or of sulphuric acid, 

 carelessly used, are very destructive to poultry. 



Decayed vegetables or fruits, fermenting waste, waste 

 from cider mills or canning factories, and slops from 

 distilleries are not suitable for feeding to laying hens, 

 because they flavor the eggs. Tainted meat eaten by 

 a fowl will also influence the flavor of eggs. 



Moldy bread is detrimental to poultry. It may be 

 freed from mold by toasting or baking it dry and hard, 

 but when so prepared it is not fit food for chicks under 

 6 wk. old. 



